Pao Pao Pao
This evening the town hall will play host to three hours of indigenous noise making as Pao Pao Pao takes centre stage. This lucky Wellingtonista is on a mission; I have gained access as an embedded civilian photographer to report on the proceedings and soak up the atmosphere. My compatriot will be reporting for Taiohi. She is tasked with extracting some sound bites from the rangatahi and I will be running around with a camera in place of the delicious Mys-T.
Wellington is a small place, as I have been discovering since I moved here. Unless you are a complete hermit you will find yourself being inexorably drawn into various networks and their attendant sticky webs of gossip. Of course this is the same where ever you go, I think anyone who has felt slighty queasy looking at those Facebook friend wheels will know what I am talking about. On the other hand, sometimes the people you meet make you feel like the universe is conspiring in your favour. I am happy to be a drone for the hive mind here at Wellingtonista and will do my best to bring the honey, so in that spirit here is a link to my girl Shaarne clad in Blackberi. Some of our readers may remember a shop called Stand Up Apparel on Plimmer Steps that was featured on Wellingtonista way back when. Blackberi is still alive and kicking via Trademe and Bebo, so check it out if you like what you see.
Shaarne and I will be joining the hordes at the Wellington Town Hall from 7pm. The cost is $30 which is very reasonable for such a wide range of performers. I am looking forward to my first taste of the ancient art of taonga puoro and a chance to check out 4 Corners. Come along and get down with the tangata whenua.
Summer in the City Suburbs
You’ve got to love the effect a sunny day has on people – I’ve seen more smiles on the streets of Newtown today than I have done the entire 6 months that I’ve lived here.
And speaking of Newtown, time to give props to a local icon,The Adelaide…
Once the infamous Tramways Hotel, and sticking resolutely to the “smalltown pub” vibe and decor, the Adelaide has quietly reinvented itself as one of the best places in town to see bands play for around the $5 mark. Cheap beer, great mirrors in the ladies’, flashing lights behind glass bricks at the counter and under the stage, pool tables, pub meals … one day I’ll devote an entire post to how much I love unpretentious hospitality. But the point of this post is to announce the inaugural Saturday Matinee at the Adelaide – just in time for the return of the golden weather!
Details after the jump…
Le Parkour Wellington
Ever been wandering around town and seen a group of youngsters behaving like a bunch of naughty monkeys? Whaddya know.. they’re probably doing parkour.
Parkour (sometimes abbreviated to PK) or or “free-running” or l’art du déplacement (“the art of displacement”) is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body.
Founded by David Belle in France, parkour focuses on practicing efficient movements to develop your body and mind to be able to overcome obstacles in an emergency. It is also practiced by many as a form of entertainment or as a pastime.
As I hinted above, there’s a thriving parkour scene in Wellington; especially in and around the urban/recreational areas of the waterfront and Civic Square.
Interested? There’s more after the jump..
The Garbage and the Flowers
The Garbage and the Flowers (formerly of Wellington and now based in Sydney; Myspace) are touring NZ.
They’re playing tomorrow night (Friday Nov 2nd) at Happy with Birchville Cat Motel and Panel of Judges.
Maximum Joy Number Two
Disk-jockeys Longboss and Name return to Mighty Mighty for another night of dizzy disco heat this Friday with MAXIMUM JOY #2.
MAXIMUM JOY!! is night to celebrate leftfield disco, Balearic soft rock, postpunk and electrofunk: music to boost your mind, ass and soul to cosmic new heights.
Through the year, Name and Longboss toil tirelessly to source the hottest, most bent-up byproducts of the disco era and today. Using extra sensory intelligence, they bring MAXIMUM JOY!! to Wellington.
MAXIMUM JOY NUMBER TWO: Friday 2 November at Mighty Mighty, 9pm till late. Dress to impress, not suppress…
Cinephilia: Opening This Week
This week the Paramount has a special attraction for fans of oddball genius David Lynch: Inland Empire has been acclaimed by (several) critics worldwide as a return to the edgy and outrageous Lynch of his early career (think Eraserhead rather than, say, The Straight Story). Inland Empire screens exclusively at the Paramount for one week only. Set aside plenty of time.
Also returning from successful screenings at this year’s Festival is Venus, starring Peter O’Toole as an ageing actor getting a new lease on life when he meets a brash and beautiful teenage girl. Dominion-Post critic Graeme Tuckett has called it his film of the year although that may have changed since Eastern Promises. Venus is written by the never less than interesting Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette and Intimacy) and plays at the Embassy, Paramount, Rialto and Sky City Queensgate.
The rest of this week’s releases after the jump…
Flight of the Conchords: Bret dances when he’s angry
Swiss on Wry – Saturday at Mighty Mighty
As the newest member of the glitterati set colloquially known as Los Wellingtonistas, I would like to draw readers’ collective attentions to one of this weekend’s musical highlights:
Lonesome Cowboy Wanderer Delaney Davidson, formerly of Switzerland (via Christchurch), returns to New Zealand to share his primitive rock ‘n roll folk with Wellington.
This Saturday night the Mighty Mighty hosts Delaney, his lapsteel, and his friends the Wrongdoings of Wellington County, and Wairarapa Wolfman Boss Christ.
Delaney was the NZ member of Pan-European cabaret noisenik folksters the Dead Brothers, once described as “more or less what’s left of a symphony orchestra after their car crashed”. The Wrongdoings are a twisted country foursome; and Boss Christ is a spectacular half-man, half-wolf, all-blues, primitive dynamo.
Saturday 26th October, 9pm at the Mighty Mighty
$10 entry
See you there!
If Only: Striving for perfection in the real world
In the corner office of our wonderful Ivory Tower (literally now, thanks Noizy for shelling out for that rebuild) we look down upon the seething populace of Wellington that we love so dear and think to ourselves: if only…if only they were as perfect as we are. At which point it’s time for our 11am massage and manicure.
This time gave us the chance to construct a short list of establishments around Wellington that could be better if only they changed some things.
The Port Café
What they have going for them: Fantastic daytime sun, great city views, really good fish & chips, and a BYO license.
What they need to change: The décor! Plain white walls and concrete floors alone do not add up to stylish minimalism: that requires elegant proportions and exquisite detailing, whereas this place just looks cheap and unfinished. The chairs were salvaged from the bargain bin at Warehouse Stationery, and the only attempts at actual design (model ships and some blue downlights) make it look tawdry and twee. Either get in a proper interior designer or drop the prices and be a plain old chippie.
more after the jump..
Cinephilia: Opening This Week
Viggo Mortensen reunites with director David Cronenberg (A History of Violence) for the acclaimed new drama Eastern Promises, set deep in the underbelly of present day London among the vicious Russian mafia. Naomi Watts plays a midwife investigating the death of a young prostitute whose diary leads to kingpin Armin Mueller-Stahl. Viggo plays his mysterious driver. Readings and Queensgate.
Fracture is a twisty courtroom thriller starring Ryan Gosling (just pulled/pushed out of The Lovely Bones) and Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins plays Ted Crawford, accused of murdering his wife; Gosling is the ambitious Deputy DA who sees this case as his ticket out to the big money corporate world but the case proves more complicated than it first appears. Readings, Empire and Queensgate.
[The rest of this week’s new releases after the jump.]